As the curtain falls on the UK tour tonight, I want to consider for a moment KT’s comments during the tour regarding one of the meanings of Golden Frames: the relentless stripping away of our imaginations as childhood recedes into the past.

Almost verbatim KT has said, “When we start school, we’re forced to do things the way people tell you; this world doesn’t allow us to keep our imaginations; we should hold on to our imaginations our entire lives.”

Through the years, KT’s imagination has proven to be alive and well. My favorite may be her various suggestions for creative plastic surgery (amphibious claw, anyone?) as a lead-in to Saving My Face on the Drastic Fantastic tour.

Then there are the spontaneous bursts of imagination we all love. Upon hearing the audience in Dublin a few weeks ago make repeated “wooping” sounds in between songs, for example, KT exclaimed that it sounded just like police sirens in the United States. She then described how the officer riding shotgun in the police cruiser must be repeatedly pressing and releasing the siren button so, instead of a continuous wail a la Europe and the UK, Americans must deal with the disjointed “woop” “woop” “woop.” KT then paused and queried (out loud, of course) what would happen if the siren-button-pressing police officer would just let the siren play without interruption??? And why are Americans apparently forbidden to hear it???

So I sat there listening to KT entertain herself realizing, “She’s right! I almost never hear a continuous police siren.” And then “Ok, who would ever bother to make such a useless observation only to then conjecture about such a useless fact?” Drum roll please… KT Tunstall.

I could offer my completely unprofessional opinion on the inspiration for KT’s prolific imagination and maybe why, at this juncture in life, she is encouraging us not to let our imaginations atrophy and even sharing her poetry with the world. But I won’t burden you with a bunch of psycho-babble that may be way off the mark.

As for yours truly, I will tell you that imagination plays no small part in my running around to see KT play live 58 times in 8 countries since 2005. …And in my writing recently to Cadbury corporate headquarters to complain about my inability to find places which sell the Chiclets gum of my youth; not the boring, difficult-to-open-and-close little boxes but the golden packets of “tiny size” Chiclets which a person, if so inclined and lacking all sense, could pour into their mouth continuously until the packet is empty. …And, yes, Cadbury responded in writing (I framed the letter) and sent along 20 packets of my favorite Chiclets as a gesture of good will. You get the picture. I’m a serious person, but if I took the world seriously day and night, I’d probably lose (even more of) my mind.

In the immortal (even if borrowed) words of the only legitimate Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp is just plain creepy in the role), “We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.” http://youtu.be/R15AS5LIJWI

So I sat there listening to KT entertain herself realizing, “She’s right! I almost never hear a continuous police siren.” And then “Ok, who would ever bother to make such a useless observation only to then conjecture about such a useless fact?” Drum roll please… KT Tunstall.

The whoop whoop is used for less intrusive situations, usually when the squad is navigating a crowd in busy downtown streets. Not sure if the sirens used in the US are louder than the UK but a full continuous US siren is earsplitting in order to be heard from behind closed autos at highway speeds.

At any rate, she excels at these random observations. She should be putting these into a book.